Okay, so many of you have probably seen that Lex/Clark is a pairing in my Justice League A/B/O AU series, so I decided to write a story that contained the key moments of their relationship, up until the start of Secret Origins.
I hope you enjoy it, and please read and review ?
Young Clark Face Claim: .
Lex Face Claim: .
….
It was a pretty normal school trip really…. They had to find lots of different types of rocks and if Clark cheated a little to do so well…. Who was to know.
And of course, when there was a school trip, a little bit of drama always followed.
Such as Eric Summers having to deal with his father… the Geology teacher…. and then getting lost as a storm quickly approached.
"Has anyone seen Eric?" Mister Summers asked, annoyance on his face, "Apparently he's gotten himself lost."
Knowing that his x-ray vision would help, Clark raised his hand and got to his feet, "I'll find him!"
He rushed out of the bus, and when he was out of sight, he used his speed to scan the woods quicker. When he finally spotted Eric, he panicked slightly.
Eric was standing near the rails on top of the dam, arms outstretched with his music playing at top volume, a greenish rock on his hand.
Which was probably why Clark was feeling like he was going to pass out.
Whilst Eric did eventually hear Clark calling, it was too late. A bolt of lightning struck the metal bars, sending Eric off balance as he tumbled over the edge, a piercing scream echoing throughout the woods.
"Eric! Eric!" Clark cried out, racing forwards and grabbing Eric's hand just in time as another bolt of lightning struck him in the chest.
He knew it should hurt…. And it did start to, especially as a green glow surrounded them. Feeling himself getting weaker and weaker, Clark used the last bit of strength to pull Eric to safety, collapsing against the wall in pain.
Glancing over, he noticed that Eric's coat was smouldering. It was instinct to reach over pat it out… after all, fire didn't hurt him.
Right?
"Ah!" he yelped, yanking his hand away as the hot, smouldering parts of the coat burnt his skin. The pain was a new sensation… and he didn't like that.
Not at all.
…..
It wasn't until the next morning that Clark knew that something was wrong.
"Clark!" His Pa called out from the truck, "I could really use your help. I loaded all the hay, my- Hey. You all right?"
"Yeah, I'm just a little tired." Clark tried to explain… which was the truth.
"The truck's stuck up to its axle in mud and- "
"- The cows aren't gonna feed themselves."
"Yeah, can you give me a hand, please?" Clark nodded, heading to the back of the truck and grabbing the back with one hand as his Pa got in the driver's seat.
"Ready?"
"Ready!"
Jon started up the engine as Clark started to push…. Only for nothing to happen. Placing his bag on the truck, Clark then tried it with two hands, "Try again!"
"Clark, are you pushing?"
"Yeah!" He pushed a little bit harder, only to slip forwards in the mud and bang his nose against the back of the truck, falling with a thud into the dirt.
"Clark…" groaned his Pa as he got out of the truck, "Come on, son, we don't have time to- "He stopped in his tracks when he spotted Clark on the floor, blood pouring from his left nostril. "What happened?" he asked in concern, kneeling by his son and gently wiping the blood away.
"I- I don't know." Clark stuttered, alarmed by the pain in his nose, "I-I don't know."
After alerting Martha to the issue, she came rushing out of the house, a tan coat in her arms, "Here's a clean coat, sweetie… are you feeling better?"
"I-I just don't understand what's wrong with me." Clark shook his head, pressing a tissue against his bleeding nose, "And why am I bleeding?"
"Maybe it's just a part of your development, like x-ray vision or maybe the lightning had something to do with it… I don't know."
Clark knew that he was starting to panic slightly, "I am going to be okay, right?"
His parents glanced at each other, before Jon noticed the school bus and patted his son on the shoulder, "What you ought to do is go to school and if anything else happens or it gets worse, give us a call."
Clark nodded, grabbing his coat… and then pausing. "You know, it's weird…. I never worried about being sick before."
"You're not sick, Clark, you're just not yourself." Martha tried to reassure him, as the bus pulled away.
"Oh, you just missed your bus, you'd better hurry."
Clark nodded and ran, clearly expecting his super speed to kick in…. only to stop when it didn't.
"Something wrong?"
"… My speed's gone too."
….
After feeling like he was going to die after gym class (cramps… who knew how much they hurt!), Clark suffered through his chores… and really suffered through them.
"Finished with the hay!" he announced, walking over to his Pa, who gave him a concerned look.
"How you holding up?" the older man asked.
"Considering my chores used to take five minutes and now they take two hours, I'm all right."
"Well, as long as you don't get any worse, I guess we can count our blessings."
Clark nodded in agreement, "I'd better get to that fence before dinner."
"You need your rest…. I'll take care of it in the morning."
"Oh, Dad, I can do it!"
Jon paused for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head, "All right, but just remember something. It took years to get used to your gifts. You can't expect to adjust in 24 hours…. Get the gate."
As Clark pushed the gate closed, he paused and turned to his Pa, "Hey, Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"How do you find the strength to do this every day?" he asked his Pa, smiling when the man flung an arm over his shoulders and pulled him closer.
"Years of practice."
…
Lex watched the simulation in fascination, his eyes on the computer-generated car as it skidded along the road and straight into the small, red figure who was sitting on the rails.
"This is very good work, Roger." He praised, smirking at the journalist.
"All the physical evidence points to this explanation."
"Hmmm, I'm sure you consulted a rogue's gallery of qualified professionals."
Roger shrugged, giving Lex his own smirk. "A journalist never reveals his sources."
"You work for the Inquisitor, not the Planet…." Lex's face suddenly got serious, "… I want to verify these experts myself. I'll give you 10 grand a name."
"Done… You know, this will make one hell of a story."
"Nobody's ever going to know about this. And if this story is accidentally leaked you and I are going to have a serious trust issue."
"As opposed to the close, personal relationship we enjoy now?"
Roger however, seemed to accept the threat and headed out of the room, leaving Lex to watch the simulation over and over and over again.
…..
It was late at night.
Clark felt like he was going to collapse, but he promised he was going to get this fence finished and that was that.
"Ah!" he yelped, as the hammer struck the tip of one of his fingers, "Why? Why must you betray me?"
Suddenly, there was a bright light as a car pulled up him front of him… a very familiar car.
"Lex!" he beamed at the omega, "What brings you all the way out here?"
Lex was silent for a few moments, before shrugging, "I needed to talk…. You have a minute?"
"If you wanna help me with this fence?" His tone was teasing as he struggled with a large beam of wood… but a little bit of help would have been appreciated when he was like this.
"You can't lift that by yourself?"
At Lex's tone, Clark immediately became defensive, "Look, I've been baling hay for the last two hours, I can barely lift my arms."
He believed that Lex seemed to accept this, as the omega smiled and lifted up the other end of the beam, resting it on the top of the fence.
"So, what's up?" he asked, desperately trying to remain calm.
There was something off in Lex's eyes, in his body language… something was wrong.
"We're friends, right?"
Shakily, Clark forced a grin onto his face and nodded, "Yeah, last time I checked…. Why?"
"… Tell me what really happened the day my car went off that bridge."
Clark frowned when he heard the slight omega influence that Lex forced into his voice, an evolutionary design to seduce Alphas… and now it was being used against him.
"I dove in and I pulled you out." He forced out, trying not to growl and remain calm.
"And that's it?"
"Lex, seriously, what's wrong?"
"I don't think you're being completely honest, and I think I know why."
Fed up the mysterious nature and the way that Lex was beating around the bush, Clark rolled his eyes. "All right, well, then, you tell me what happened."
"I think I hit you at 60 miles an hour… then you ripped open my roof, pulled me out and saved my life." Lex stopped closer, placing his hand on Clark's shoulder, "Clark… You're the closest I've had to a real friend my whole life, maybe something more. You don't have to hide anything from me!"
Clark was silent for a few moments… he did feel something for Lex, but was it enough to tell the omega everything?
Could he trust the man like that?
And then he had the idea.
"You think I'm hiding something?" He sighed wearily, not even bothering to hide the hurt in his voice, as he tried to hand Lex the hammer he was using for the fence, "Okay, here… Take this hammer. Hit me anywhere."
Lex took a step back at this, his eyes wide in alarm, "I'm not going to hit you, Clark."
"Come on! If I got hit by a car, you can't hurt me!"
"Clark, I just want the truth!"
"The truth is, I'm just a guy who tried to do the right thing! Isn't that enough?!" Clark frowned, "Is that why you've been hanging out with me? To find out if I'm some kind of freak?"
"Clark, I- "
"- Forget it." Clark shook his head and headed back towards the house, "I'll speak to you at some point tomorrow."
Ignoring Lex calling after him, Clark practically stormed into the house and into his room.
…
After another hard day of school, Clark woke up the next morning to see his Ma reading a paper at the table.
"Listen to this Clark… 'Superboy: Smallville's newest hero'…. Guess we know what happened to your powers."
"Superboy… you should name your side-kick that if you ever take up being a hero full time."
Clark smirked at his Pa, before looking at the picture and recognising Eric in an instant as Jon continued, "Must have been the lightning strike…. You said that Eric was holding a meteor rock? It must have transferred your powers somehow."
Frowning as he read over the article, Clark sighed. "You know, all those years of hiding I wonder if it was worth it…. Everyone's fine with Eric."
He was really dismayed by this, knowing that if he could be free and open with his powers, then he wouldn't have any problems with Lex.
"Well, that's just for now, Clark…." Jon quickly tried to reassure him, as Clark turned away.
"…. Well, the question is whether it's temporary or permanent."
Jon sighed, "You know what they say: Lightning never strikes twice in the same place…." He then placed a gentle hand on Clark's shoulder, "…Look… My guess is that your powers aren't coming back."
The statement hurt, but Clark pushed those feelings down. "Maybe being normal won't be so bad, maybe I can work things out with Lex… I mean, it works for you and Mom."
"Oh, thanks!"
Clark chuckled a little bit at his Mother's statement, before his face fell again and he glanced nervously at his parents, "You don't feel any differently about me now, do you?"
"Clark…" Martha exclaimed in shock, getting to her feet and making her way over to her son, "… You're our son, whether you can bench-press the tractor or not."
"What do I do now?"
"Well, life isn't easy for anybody whether you're normal or super…" Jon sighed, "… but you're still Clark Kent. And you were raised a certain way and that's never gonna change. Sure, your abilities were a part of you, but they didn't define you."
"Look on the bright side, Clark…. You don't have to hide anymore. Maybe you and Lex can try and go on some courting dates now?"
Jon clearly didn't agree with Martha's idea, but nodded wearily, "Yes… maybe this'll be good for you? No more secrets, right?"
This seemed to cheer Clark up slightly, and he nodded in determination, heading towards his room and missing the conversation between his parents.
"You're kind of relieved, aren't you?" Martha asked Jon.
"Well, he always said he wanted to be normal…. Guess he got his wish."
…
Despite feeling bad the previous evening, Clark was feeling amazing by the end of the day. He could actually talk to Lana without feeling sick due to her Kryptonate necklace.
Yes, they lost a basketball game against Whitney, but he actually felt like he tried… he felt normal.
He could get used to this.
….
Meanwhile, Lex was pouring over his paperwork… from an office in Metropolis.
He couldn't go back to Smallville, not until he had either found out the truth about Clark or confirmed that his suspicions were wrong… the look of betrayal on Clark's face still caused his heart to pang.
Lost deep in his thoughts, he barely heard the door open.
"Lex?"
Inwardly he groaned… Victoria was back.
"Lex, you remember Dad?"
He glanced up from his paperwork and frowned at the sight of Victoria's Alpha father striding into the room. "Sir Harry…" he greeted, before turning his attention to the other Alpha in the room, "Victoria, I don't recall setting up a meeting with your Father… care to explain?"
"Sorry…" Sir Harry apologised, "… We were closing a deal and thought we'd just pop in in."
Victoria sidled closer, a smirk on her face, "Lex…. You seem upset."
"You walk in here, just expecting to have a meeting with me… a little disrespectful, don't you think?"
Sir Harry smirked at this, "He's just as fiery as I remember… I know you don't want to get involved in my dream of taking over LutherCorp, and I admire your resistance in the face of my daughter, but I feel like you might change your mind."
"… You can't take over LutherCorp without my shares, and I'm not handing them over."
"You heard of Cadmus Labs?"
Yes… yes, he had… and Sir Harry shouldn't know about them, unless-
He glanced over at Victoria and glared at her, "I've been researching them for a year."
"Well your research has just paid off…." Sir Harry smirked, "… I bought them…. An hour ago."
And instantly, Lex knew what was going to happen next. "With the profits you'll reap from their patents, you'll buy LuthorCorp outright."
Another smirk from the older Alpha. "Tell your father I said hello…. Come on, girl."
Before Victoria could leave, Lex grabbed his wrist and tugged her closer, forcing her to look him in the eye, "Congratulations…. I hope it was worth it. If you ever come near my home or me again, Mercy will leap at the chance to show you what a true Alpha is like."
…..
The next day, Clark saw exactly what his powers could do if in the wrong hands.
It could scare people.
Almost every student in the school was rushing out to the car park, all hearing that Eric Summers was going to beat up Brent, a cocky beta jock, who acted more like an Alpha.
"What's the problem, Brent?" Eric was laughing, lifting up an SUV as Brent tried to hide away from him, "Why are you hiding from nothing?"
When Brent tried to make a run for it, Eric simply rolled his eyes and threw the car to one side, barely watching as it rolled several times before zipping in front of Brent again and again and stopping him from leaving.
Eric then grabbed Brent by his varsity jacket and threw up onto a wooden table, shattering it into lots of tiny pieces.
It was then that Clark knew he had to intervene.
"Eric, you can't do this!" he yelled, leaping in front of the other teen.
"Watch me!"
"No, I'm serious…." Clark tried to get through to Eric, "… You could kill someone. You don't want that on your conscience…. Calm down."
There was a brief pause, before Eric snarled and grabbed Clark. "You're not my father, Clark…. Now shut up and get out of my way!"
Lifting Clark up as though he didn't weigh anything, Eric threw him back towards the car park, the Alpha soaring over several parked cars, before landing heavily on one, the breath rushing out of his body and his head striking the metal… hard.
He could feel the blood running down his forehead, before everything went black.
…..
"Just a little higher."
Clark resisted the urge to whine at the pain in his chest, taking several deep breaths as the Doctor tightened the bandages. "How much longer is it gonna hurt?"
"You'll be fine in a couple of weeks."
"A couple weeks?!"
The Doctor smirked at this, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. And this'll be an interesting story to tell any potential omegas, hmmm?"
"…. That I got beat up and I can't do anything for two weeks?"
Before the Doctor could say anything, the curtain slid open and Clark's parents came rushing in, with Martha zipping forwards in relief, "Clark!" she exclaimed, pulling her son into a spine-cracking hug as the young man winced.
"Easy on the ribs, Ma!"
"How's he doing, doc?" Jon asked the Doctor, his face twisted in concern.
"Well, nothing seems to be broken. We could get an x-ray just to be safe?"
"I- I think we'll just take him on home."
The Doctor wasn't happy with this but shrugged anyway as Martha wrapped her son's shirt around his shoulders. "It's your choice, but I wanna see him back in a week."
"Thanks, doc…." Jon then turned to his wife, "… You help him get dressed, and I'll go take care of the paperwork."
"What happened?" Martha asked as soon as the Doctor was out of ear-shot.
"Eric just flipped out, it was kind of scary."
"… I wish you hadn't gotten in his way."
Clark shrugged, hissing in pain as his ribs ached, "I don't know what it is. Even though Eric has my abilities, I still think of them as my responsibility."
"Clark!"
Twisting around, Clark felt some relief when he saw Lex racing up the corridor towards them… as well as a little bit of regret.
"I just heard!" the omega came rushing over, holding his hand out as though he was going to touch Clark, only to pull himself back, "Are you okay?"
Sensing that Clark wanted to speak to the omega alone, Martha patted her son on the back and gave him a reassuring smile, "I'll go see your dad."
As soon as she was out of earshot, Clark turned to Lex and glared at him, "So did you come by to make sure I was hurt?"
"Clark I-I wanted to make sure you were all right!"
"Yeah, never better…." Clark winced as the ache in his ribs increased, "… We can go out in the parking lot and you can hit me with your car."
"Clark…." Lex gently grabbed the Alpha's arm, "… What I said about you the other day, I'm sorry. Nothing appears to be what it seems lately."
"You gonna stop snooping around my back now?"
"Listen…. I had no right to question your honesty. All I can do is plead temporary insanity and hope we can find a way to put this behind us."
There was a brief silence, before Clark sent a sly smirk to Lex, his tone teasing. "Only temporary?"
"Very funny…" Lex sighed in relief, "… You need some help?"
"Yeah…. Thanks Lex."
…..
"I stopped by to see Eric's parents this morning."
Clark twisted around to face Jon, who was giving him a sympathetic look. "How are they?"
"… They're scared, Clark."
Clark paused for a few moments, as one question came to the fore-front of his mind, "Were you ever scared of me?"
"…. Well you threw a few temper tantrums when you were little we had some holes in the walls but, no…. You were a good kid, Clark."
"I-I don't think Eric's a bad kid."
Jon was quick to put a reassuring hand on Clark's shoulder, "Neither do I, he's just a teenager who's in way over his head, that's all."
"You know, when this first happened, I was kind of freaked out…" Clark admitted, "… but now I'm kind of enjoying it. I played basketball for the first time without worrying if I'd hurt anyone." He then gestured to his bandaged ribs, "Even this is better than being around the meteor rocks, any day of the week."
"Something happened at Eric's house…." Martha suddenly interrupted, rushing into the room, "… The police came but couldn't control him."
"… I have to stop him."
Jon frowned at Clark's statement, "Hang on a minute, you're hurt, remember? If you try to face him again, he could kill you!"
"He has my strength…. Maybe he has my weakness too?"
"The meteor rocks?" Martha exclaimed.
"No one else knows how to stop him!" At his Ma's worried look, Clark gave her his best reassuring smile, "Mom, this is who I am, whether I have my powers or not."
"But Clark, what about a meteor rock? It's not like we keep them laying around?"
"…. I know where to find one."
….
Lex, who was suddenly in a much better mood than he had been earlier, strode into the Metropolis offices, a smirk on his face as he saw Sir Harry standing there.
"I got an urgent call you wanted to see me?" His voice casual despite the smirk on his face.
Sir Harry growled at him, clearly trying to intimidate him, "How'd you do it, Lex?"
"Do what?"
"Cadmus Labs… It's worthless."
Lex's smirk widened as he shrugged, "I know. You should have done your homework before acquiring it so recklessly. Now you've left yourself open for a hostile takeover."
"I read the report!" Victoria begged her father, unwilling to believe she'd made such a crucial mistake.
"You mean that piece of fiction you stole off my computer?"
Sir Harry glared at his daughter, "Is this your idea of having it covered?"
Before the man could leave, Lex stopped him in his tracks and smirked at him, "That's what you get for trusting family… My father and I will be making an offer on your company in the morning. I'll tell him you said hello."
As the older Alpha left the room, Victoria shot to her feet and growled at Lex, "How could you do this to me, Lex?"
"You did it to yourself, Victoria. You thought you could make bones with Daddy by taking me down. The good Alpha showing the little omega who was boss."
"It was just business!"
"You call trying to sleep with me business?" Lex smirked again, "I hate to think what that makes you."
Victoria snapped.
With a feral sounding growl, she punched Lex across the face, knocking him to the ground before standing over him. "We could have been great together…. We still could be great together."
"I plan on being great all by myself…." Lex sneered up at her, "… I don't need an Alpha to help with that… Speaking about Alphas', you'd better check on your dad, he didn't look well."
…
After getting the kryptonate necklace from Lana (which was easier than he thought), Clark rushed over to Eric's house as fast as he could (which wasn't very fast at all).
And then there were the words from Eric's parents.
'Eric said he wanted to end it all'
And Clark knew where the teen planned to do this.
The dam where this all began.
"Eric!" he cried out after reaching the dam (and if he had to borrow a bike to get there, nobody needed to know) and spotting Eric standing on the edge of the ledge, "Eric! Eric, don't!"
Eric didn't listen, holding his arms out and falling into the darkness below.
"Eric!"
Using a nearby hillside, Clark went racing down, hoping to catch a glimpse of Eric as he called out for the other teen.
"You should have let me go the first time, Clark…." Clark spun around, frowning at the sight of Eric striding towards him, "…Would've been better than life like this."
"Eric, why'd you jump off that dam?"
"I was testing myself to see if I had any limits…. Apparently, I don't."
"Look, you can adjust to these abilities! You've gotta give yourself some time!"
Eric smirked at this, "How do you know, Clark?"
"… I'm just saying give yourself some time."
"Oh, so in time, my parents won't be scared of me?! The girl of my dreams won't think I'm a freak?! The cops won't be after me?!"
"I can help!" Clark begged, keeping the necklace hidden as Eric grabbed him by the coat collar.
"I don't want your help, Clark!"
With barely any effort, Eric threw Clark towards some metal fencing that surrounded electrical pylons. As Clark pushed himself to his feet, he realised that the necklace was missing, causing him to scrabble about in the dirt, desperately trying to find it.
"Treat me like a criminal…." Eric sneered, pulling Clark off of the ground, "… I'll give them something to be scared about."
"It's not the answer Eric!"
"Come on, Clark. If you had this power, what would you do?"
"I-I'd stop people like you!"
"Nothing on this earth can stop me." Eric smirked and threw Clark to the side.
Which was lucky… because Clark found the necklace.
"You're wrong…." He growled, quickly grabbing the necklace off the ground as Eric wrenched an electrical wire away from the main pylon, the sparks racing up and down his arm as Clark pushed himself to his feet.
"We'll see about that."
Just as Eric went to press the live wire against Clark's skin, Clark grabbed the other teen's wrist, the kryptonite stone in his hand.
Much like with what happened with the lightning, there was a flash of green light as the two teens screamed in pain, before falling to the ground. Almost immediately, the pain in Clark's ribs disappeared, filled with a new ache as the closeness of the kryptonite had an effect on him.
Quickly, he shoved the necklace back into the lead box and sighed in relief… and then he noticed Eric.
"Eric?"
"I'm so cold…. So cold."
Later, when Eric was strapped to a gurney and being placed into the ambulance, Clark allowed himself to be led away by his Pa.
"What do you think is gonna happen to them now?" he asked, glancing back at Eric's parents.
"Not sure…." Noticing Clark's face, Jon sighed, "… Hey. They had problems long before he had your abilities. How are you feeling?"
"Normal, for me."
"Clark…." Jon encouraged his son to look his in the eye, before taking a deep breath, "… Your gifts are, well, they're a part of you, but they don't define you."
"I know…. But they complicate all of our lives."
"Seeing how destructive Eric got… That just reminds me of how special you really are."
Clark couldn't help but smile at this, "That's because Eric didn't get my two strongest gifts…." At Jon's confused frown, Clark explained, "… You and Mom."
"Let's go home son."
…
"Hello, Dad, how's business?" Lex answered the phone, quickly putting it on loudspeaker as he poured himself another glass of whiskey.
/Tomorrow's Planet is announcing our takeover of Sir Harry's company. \\
"Did I merit a mention?"
/Third paragraph. That's what happens when you trust your family, Lex…. I'm proud of you. \\
Lex smirked at this, "Thanks, Dad. That means a lot coming from you." Quickly, he hung up the call, just as Roger entered the room.
"Your so-called experts were wrong about Clark Kent…." He greeted the reporter, "… I saw it with my own eyes. He's just a regular kid."
"That's not possible…. So how do you explain the accident?"
Lex shook his head, "I can't but I'm closing the book and putting it behind me."
"There's something there, Lex!"
"I don't care…." Glaring at the reporter, Lex leaned forwards, "… The Kents are off-limits, understand?" When Roger frowned, Lex chained the subject, "You have something for me?"
Roger tossed a file onto Lex's lap and waited for him to open it up.
"Nice picture quality." Lex chuckled, "Who initiated this little encounter?"
"Who do you think?"
"Victoria?"
"…. Your father."
When Lex tensed at this, Roger smirked and left the room, leaving Lex to examine the photos of Victoria and his Father in bed together.
…..
After giving Lana her necklace back (and trying to persuade her to keep it in the lead-lined box), Clark left feeling…. Feeling heavy.
Feeling like there was something that he had to do.
Glancing around, he took a deep breath and raced towards Lex's house, not even noticing the time as he knocked on the door.
Less than five minutes later, the door opened, and Mercy growled at him, her hair all messed up, clearly having just got out of bed.
"I know it's late…" Clark interrupted, before she could say anything, "… but I need to speak to Lex… it's important."